On Fri, Apr 06, 2001 at 03:49:37PM +1200, Richard A. O'Keefe wrote:
> Joshua Channing Gargus <schwa at cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
> 
> 	ftp://ftp.inria.fr/INRIA/Projects/SOR/users/piumarta/squeak
> 	
> I did.  Do you know what it says?

Umm... CURRENT_STABLE_RELEASE_IS_2.7?

> Right after parent directory, there it is in glaring red:
> 
> 	CURRENT_STABLE_RELEASE_IS_2.7

I was right! :-)

> It contains a 2.8pre3 for Solaris 2.5.1, the same one I have mentioned
> whose INSTALL file is extremely hostile to the idea of NOT putting things
> in /usr/local.  It also contains a 3.0prepre2 for Solaris 2.5.1.
> 
> Why is the Sparc/Solaris VM being developed for Solaris 2.5.1
> when Solaris 2.8 has been out for so long?  

Guess: this is what Ian has access to.

> Will it work under 2.8?

I have no idea; I'm a Linux user.  Not that this is much consolation, but at
least there is a pre-built Solaris VM of some description.

> I just noticed what looks like a 2.8pre4 sources file, which of course
> casts even more doubt on 2.8pre3 for Solaris 2.5.1.
> 
> It may well be that the 2.8pre4 VM is as good as it gets and plenty good
> enough, but no-one has said so, certainly no Squeak Web page that I have
> yet been able to locate.

Well, we Linuxers don't have a prebuilt 3.0 vm, but Squeak-3.0pre2.tar.gz
compiles nicely.  There are also options to the "configure" script that
lets you set the directory it will be happy in, in case /usr/local isn't
an option.

> I love Squeak, I am using it in a class for the second time, I am ever
> so grateful to the people who put Squeak together and port it (IBM NZ
> didn't even return my phone call when I wanted to ask about using VA),
> but it really shouldn't be this hard to find out exactly which VM to pick
> up so I can run Squeak 2.8 "final" on SPARC/Solaris 2.8.
> 
> I was really thrilled with the 2.7 release for UNIX.  Just unpack, get a
> directory with all the files I needed in one place, and go.  No 'inisqueak'.
> No deeply nested directories.  Files I could move around *if* I wanted
> without breaking symbolic links.   (Told you 2.8pre3 binary release was
> hostile to putting things in places ordinary mortals can put them.)
> What I want for a UNIX binary release is
>  *one* directory containing executable, images, changes, README, and
>  perhaps a man page.  (Oh yes, and an edition of LaLonde revised for
>  Squeak.  I'm not going to get any of this, so might as well dream.)

What's LaLonde?

>  I'd like it so that the changes and image files can be made readonly,
>  so that if you just fire up with what you've got, Squeak loads things,
>  notices they're read-only, and pops up a little message saying
> 	"The image and changes files are read-only; if you want to
> 	 save your changes before editing you will have to use Save As."
>  and does it again if you try Save.  That should also work on MacOS,
>  where files can be locked.
>

That's a good idea.  A problem would be with the changes file, since it
is written to all the time.  I guess Squeak could just force you to SaveAs
immediately.
 
> My complaints are the complaints of a frustrated lover, not a critic.